"Writers Thought for Today" blog is moving to a WordPress blogging platform, will be located at http://alturl.com/6izif and be renamed to "Publishing/Writing: Insights, News, Intrigue"

I cordially invite all my current and future readers to visit my new location for the very latest publishing and writing industry happenings...AND please click the free "subscribe" button in the top menu to follow my new blog...The blogging gods will bless you...

Both these booksellers have struggled to adapt and keep pace with new digital tech, discounters and online competitors...But, if I had to guess which one would buy the other in a takeover bid, I would have guessed B&N would be the pursuer and not the other way around.

Borders must have more vision and strength than I realized...or they just want to stay in the game. Borders is smaller than B&N but some say they are better organized.

In the digital publishing age a balance needs to be created between the customers' desire for immediate accessability at any time to enriched text (enhanced with audio, video, three-dimensional objects, full text searching, note taking, etc) and "...publishers’ needs for financial self-sustainability."

We are at the age where researchers can access works in the form of e-books that are accessable at any time and any place and never go out of print!

Publishing, as a whole, has seen an uptick lately...Not B2B publishing models, however.

PaidContent.org, utilizing info from Data Explorers, a financial data aggregator which tracks stock loan information to provide insight on short selling and long-side ownership, has surmised that the B2B publishers are gaining interest and activity from investors that indicate this publishing model may be on the mend...due in some regard (I think) to improved handling of digitization.

Well, that means 66% DO use the mobile device for reading books...And that is a great percentage!

Since the advent of the eReaders, tablets and other multitask mobile gadgets, I have felt they would encourage more reading...and especially spur book reading...if for no other reason than to be able to utilize the new fad gadgets.

I was right. And their presence has also resulted in the resuscitation of the publishing industry as a whole!

Amazon is still proving it's ahead of the power curve in innovation of new publishing models and dynamics.

By introducing a shorter and cheaper model for works 10K to 30K words in length (about 30 to 90 pages of print) Amazon is climbing way out of the old established print molds for publishing; and, I might add, opening up the public to unique stories, theses and papers that were previously unavailable to the public on a large published scale...not to mention a new source of revenue for writ...Continue reading ...

The reason I say Pubit trumps Amazon is because it comes with a free conversion tool that automatically formats Microsoft Word, TXT, HTML or RTF files into the ePub file format for publication.

This is BIG. Any self-publishing author can attest to the difficulty and frustration with formatting these files for Smashwords, Amazon, iPad, etc. This is a great step forward and hopefully will be followed by the others to make digital publis...Continue reading ...

Being a blogger myself, I have often wondered and dreamed about ways to monetize blogs...

Well, I came across a Wordpreneur article by Colleen Slater that gives an excellent suggestion for monetizing your blogging experience PLUS it gives a link to many other ways to turn your blog and blogging into a money tree!

I had to share...especially since Colleen claims to make $15,000 per month blogging:

You hear about it all the time, people who blog for money. Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?

In a society that wants to sue everybody for anything, you need to know how to write a legal disclaimer for your book. Especially ANY book giving advice or books on health, nutrition, finances and memoirs where characters may defame another...intentionally or not.

Why in the hell would you design an antenna in a metal strip around the edge of a mobile device where you know it has to be held to use...AND by covering the antenna with your hand it would cut down or eliminate your reception?

Well that's what Apple did...You would think in pre-testing that this flaw would be readily apparent. But what's worse for Apple is the high probability that they are refusing to make the design flaw right by their customers!

Give my writing away? Hell no!...I used to think. Then I learned, especially as a newbie wanting to establish a presence, that it was better to advertise some of your work for free to get known and accumulate a following...build a platform, so to speak, from which to launch your bigger works for sale...Look at it as writing your advertising.

Yuwanda Black (pictured) is an author and speaker who wrote a great article for Wordpreneur giving some excellent pointers on when your writing should b...

How can I be a successful writer? A question asked by ALL newbies...Well, one way is to follow lessons learned from more experienced writers who are willing to share...Such is Bob Baker (pictured) who is a full-time author and independent publisher who wrote this excellent advice for Wordpreneur:

Are you a curious person? I am. Especially when it comes to people who have taken action to achieve worthy and creative goals. Whenever I meet a successful author, musician, artist, actor or whatever,...

Some more advice today for writers...Today it's about a writers strategic planning for choosing a book subject that will have the best chance for selling and marketing success.

Caterina Christakos(pictured below), author of How to Write a Children's Book in 30 Days or Less and others, gives us some sage advice on pre-planning for our subject matter in an article for Wordpreneur:

Many writers write for the experience. Others dream of having a number one best seller. Both are wonderful reasons...

I want to point this out because of the important work ABFFE does in fighting those who would limit our freedom of expression through promulgating censorship...due to mostly those who can't interpret mature literature and art without acting out there own stupid fantasies!

This is a wonderful post about a small, independent, non-profit publisher who came across a little manuscript that was rejected by many of the big boys; loved it, even though it went against the grain of the current formulaic successful-seller, and gave birth to a Pulitzer Prize winner! A true literary happening!

About Me

John R. Austin

Pueblo, Colorado

Writer, Old-Warrior-Adventurer, Blogger... I was born in Key West, Florida. A rather famous hangout for some past famous writers: Hemingway and Tennessee Williams to name two. I just hope that I possess a glimmer of their talent. I have a bachelors degree in architecture/construction and a master's degree in industrial engineering. I have been writing for fifty plus years. Most of my writing has been in the technical, instructional and business areas. I am working on my first book: "Havana Harvest---When Cuba Was Naughty" which details my coming of age experiences in 1958 Havana, Cuba, at the age of 15. Please visit my other blog "Writers Welcome Blog" at http://alturl.com/4z88.